Continental Fighters
Continental Fighters is a short story included as part of TSFIA. Summary Before her, on the retinal projection HUD of her machine, she could see a sea of hostile signatures. Captain Misae Munakata couldn’t help but to show some signs of annoyance as she scanned over the terrain and enemy intel being fed to her HUD through the datalink download. The red hostile signature markings pretty much drowning area B7 in an ocean of crimson on her map. Even now, divisional headquarters still imposes a strict max altitude limit of 400m in the region. The priority now is to clear all the Laser classes in the region, or else the beach head set up along the Sakhalin coast could not hope to be held for long if the main assault forces get pummeled by anymore Magnus Lux than they already are. "I wonder where all these Laser class are coming from? The hive couldn’t possibility have its tunnels all the way out here, can it?" The old war wound on her left shot up in pain for a brief moment, and memories of that dark and terrible day flowed into her mind. Once again she is reminded of the pain of losing her friends and comrades in this war of survival. Putting her petal to the metal, she forced her machine into its max thrust. The noise and vibration of her jump units could be felt in her seat. Truly, no matter how many time she does it, the feeling of traveling at such speeds, at such an low altitude, is something she can never fully describe, but for now she is allowing her heart to fully enjoy the thrills of high speed NOE flight to change her foul mood. August, 2003. Along the entire Sakhalin coast, the Imperial Japanese Army and the Soviet Union Armed Force launched a large scale joint offensive to pave the road for the future operations for taking the Blagoveshchensk Hive, and the surrounding region of the Heilongjiang province. Pushing the BETA back this far has long since been the dream of both Japan and Russia. “Valkyrie 1 to all Valkyrie call signs. Weapons free! Full suppressive fire! Kill them all!” “Valkyrie 2, roger that, targets locked, emptying everything… Fox 1!” With the acknowledgment from her most trustworthy friend, Charlie flight brought forth eight type-92 multipurpose cluster missiles to bear, and reaped brutal merciless death upon their foe. From the ashes, bright beams of light cut through the smoke and intercepted the missiles that have not yet struck. “Laser classes location confirmed! I count eighteen Lux and four Magnus Lux!” The Valkyries instantly carried out their immediate action drill for encountering Laser classes in this type of situation, and assumed their attack formation without Capt. Munakata having to say a word, but she said it regardless. “Alpha flight, spread out and target the area with suppressive artillery fire! Bravo flight, charge them! Charlie flight, assume over-watch, give support fire at your discretion.” “Valkyrie 3, roger! Bravo flight, on me! Do not disgrace the name of Storm Vanguard! Charge!!” With that, the four machines of Bravo flight charged ahead towards the laser classes under the protective screening fire of Alpha’s mighty Type-02 squad support guns. “Valkyrie 3 to Valkyrie 8, you are charging too far ahead! Learn to watch your surroundings, dammit! Jeesh, I can’t believe you are Captain Isumi’s sister!” “Valkrie 8, roger that! But with all due respect, shut the fuck up, and you're too slow, learn to keep up!” Listening to two of her Storm Vanguards arguing and exchanging insults on the net brought a very familiar feeling of nostalgia to Munakata. She remembers the face and voice of her commander who died that fateful day, plus many others, and couldn’t help but laugh at the current Valkyrie Squadron roster manning list. She admitted that to her knowledge, the board was not partial in picking pilots for the newly reactivated Valkyrie squadron, and that it just so happen that after all the evaluation, pilot assessments, and a rigorous selection process, that a certain Isumi sister was selected and assigned to Isumi’s Valkyrie unit, and partnered up with Suzumiya Akane, as a Storm Vanguard no less. Fate sure has its ways of rewarding her, it seems. Suppressing her smile, Munakata ordered her troops. “Valkyrie 1 to all Valkyries, we needed to break the BETA formation yesterday! I want more lead poured into those motherfuckers, now! Don’t worry if you hit those two retards in Bravo with friendly fire, they deserve it.” “What!? Captain???????!!!” The two arguing storm vanguard's expression was one of shock. “Valkyrie 2, understood. Please don’t die you two, good Storm Vanguards are so hard to come by.” Valkyrie 2 smiled most gently as she said those words. “Yeah, just like that. Maintain this rate fire. Suzumiya, Isumi! Get ready to dodge!” “Zhar 1 to Valkyrie 1. My battalion is closing in, contact imminent! Requesting artillery fire to support my approach.” The voice of a young woman sounded in Munkata's ears as her machine’s automatic translation unit did its job. Enlarging her tactical map and confirming the Zhar battalion’s location and flight path, she issued out her new orders.” “Valkyrie 1 to Alpha and Charlie flights! Switch fire to cover the Soviets and Bravo as they link up! Target the area point R3 and R5! Lets give the Soviets a red carpet welcome!” “Roger!” As Alpha and Charlie fired to support the Russian advance, Munakata could see clearly the emblem of the burning sword and shield, symbolizing the burning passion of war and the desire to protect, adorning the shoulder plate of all the Su-37M2 and Su-27SM TSFs now charging into the fray. From their movements and coordination, Munakata could tell that they were well trained and experienced, indeed she expected no less form a battalion of such renowned and possessing such a battle honored history. Judging by their movements, its clear they are also equipped with the XM3 OS. With so many XM3 equipped unit out here, we got this one in the bag I say. Long ago she herself participated in the tests and simulation that would birth the XM3 OS seen today. Even though it was a small part she played in this development, she can’t help but to feel proud at seeing the new OS being used by TSFs from all corners of the world. “Impressive! My thanks to you, friends from Imperial Japan.” “Always a pleasure, comrade.” “Valkyrie 3 to Valkyrie 1! Link up with Russians complete! We are taking care of the Laser classes now, but there are still two Lux class unaccounted for!” “Valkyrie 1, understood. Don’t let your guard down.” Suppressing her own sense of nervousness, she resisted the urge to contact Valkyrie 2 on private channels. She realize it would be pointless to voice her concern, when there is really nothing they can do that they aren’t doing already. Better to have faith and trust in this new generation to sort themselves out and truly earn their place in this new world. ...Captain Isumi, Haruka, Mitsuki. Watch over them. I don’t wish for them to enjoy a reunion with you guys just yet. August, 2003. Despite the losses and sacrifices, the land of the Sakhalin Oblast was retaken by humanity. And the IJA Fuji Instructional Brigade once again demonstrated to the world what its Shiranui Seconds could accomplish in face of overwhelming odds. By the year 2004, the Shiranui Second was officially adopted into the IJA ground forces as the Type-04 and entered mass production, narrowly beating out its competition the F-15SEJ Gekkou. While both machines are roughly even in terms of performance, the Second had a slight edge in speed and maneuverability, while the Gekkou's ease of handling and stealth capability made it an attractive alternative. The selection board was at an impasse due its inability to decide which machine to choose from. While both side had valid points to support their position for either one of the machines, it took the Grand Shogun Yuuhi Koubuin herself to step in and gave her own opinion that: “While the Earth continues to be plagued by the BETA, only the most helpless fool would consider preparing oneself for war among humans to be of priority.” With the Shogun’s intentions revealed, it was only natural that the Shiranui Second be selected as the next main production TSF of the IJA. The twelve F-15SEJ Gekkou purchased for the purpose of evaluation and trailing are now kept for study by the IJA, and rumor has it that a certain unit in the IJA has been known to deploy in the F-15SEJ when the situation calls for a… more subterfuge approach. Category:TSFIA